I Wanna Hold Your Hand

…but really, I don’t. Over your sales career, you are going to run into clients / prospects that want you to be there with them every step of the way. You will receive calls from them almost daily requesting status updates and expressing their uncertainty of the purchase that they just made.

You have a choice. You can pander to their every whim or you can manage their expectations. Really there is a third option (firing them), but let’s not go here yet.

If you decide to indulge their every call, text message, email, fax, snail mail, Pony Express message, etc. you are going to have to do this for the rest of the time that they are your client. Make sure it is worth it. Your time is valuable.

If you manage their expectations correctly, you shouldn’t have to worry about calls at all hours asking you for status updates. Provide them when you say you are going to provide them. Give them the facts of the transaction proactively. Let them know that you will update them as soon as updates are available and not before. Under promise and over deliver.

The more you focus on managing expectations, the less stress they will cause you, and the less likely you are to feel like you need to go to the third option of firing them. There are valid reasons for firing a client, but don’t let “high maintenance” be one of them. Just manage expectations properly.

I never really wanted to be in sales growing up. Now that I am an adult, I still really do not think of myself as a traditional “salesman”. Yet truthfully, we are all in sales, especially if you are a business owner. Hopefully this blog will be a resource for ... Continue reading →